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All good things must come to an end…ending here on the 3rd of June. On this cold, gray day in December, its nice to have some sunny images Italy. This LONG series of photos has been a real treat to stretch out over six months of editing. Thanks for coming along for the ride 🙂

A too-early wake up call got the ball rolling this morning. Shower. Breakfast. Time to fly home. The military and its marching band was reassembling on the closed road in front of the hotel…today is a national holiday…La Festa della Repubblica. Bonus…an easy 30min drive to the airport…FCO…Leonardo da Vinci International.

Quick check in through Lufthansa. Confirmed our upgrade from Frankfurt to SFO…both of us.

Time to kill.

Left Rome in the light rain. A couple of hour later, descended through scattered puffy clouds into Frankfurt…by one measure a very predictable, efficient airport…marred by inexplicable irritants.

Boarded our on-time 747 bound for San Francisco. Champagne for Jeff and red wine for me. I do love business class.

Followed a familiar route over Iceland and Greenland and down over Canada. The US leg involved wonderful views of Mt. Rainier, Mt. St. Helens, and Mt. Shasta. The San Francisco Bay was beautifully lit…a welcome sight.

OK…in the home stretch with Italy photos!! Here is our last full day in Rome, with some fun long walks past some famous (and overcrowded) sites. I’m going to miss these 🙂 Enjoy.

Awoke to another sunny day in Rome…forecast to be the warmest of our visit. Another filling breakfast…yesterday’s held us over till dinner…Italy has enough of our money. Filled our water bottle…Rome has countless, free-flowing water fountains all over the city for cool, fresh refills.

Headed a short distance to the three-building Musei Capitolini high atop Capitol Hill…the seat of ancient Roman temples and even pre-historic settlements back to the Iron Age. The museum has an amazing sculpture collection. We finished our visit in the open-air section of the museum that overlooks the Forum. This section is the Roman temple of Jupiter.

Another long afternoon walk, starting with a daytime stop at the Pantheon…free, easy entrance into this impressive architectural wonder…originally a Roman temple…now a church. Next stop, the controversial modern building on the Tiber constructed to showcase (and protect) the ancient Altar of Peace…a huge, gleaming-white marble “box”…carved with intricate figures. We viewed the Altar from the outside for free 🙂

Across the street, the simple church of San Rocco…in Rome, even the small churches are gems. Hit a couple of tourist meccas on our walk back to the hotel: viewed the famed Spanish Steps from afar…across the heads of a gazillion people. Popped by the Trevi Fountain…a brilliant fountain, buried under the weight of popularity.

Took a long winding path back to the hotel…past the gleaming monument to Italian unification; past the Forum; past the Colloseum; past the Circus Maximus. Dinner one last time in the Travestere…pizzas and wine from a recommended spot. The Travestere was full of Italians…in town for the three-day holiday weekend. Had one last wonderful gelato. Saw our angry mime again.

Fell asleep tired, but knowing we had wrung every last drop from the Eternal City.

Wow…this was one of the amazing days criss-crossing Rome. So many color people…literally in some cases. FUN! Just a couple more days to go, and then all done with Italy. 🙁 (Here is the original journal entry…from the FIRST DAY OF JUNE!!) The late night shots of the Pantheon are REALLY great.

Jeff tells me that at 4am, a full military marching band passed by our hotel…I heard nothing. Had our first hearty breakfast of the trip…including fluffy scrambled eggs, bacon (the way I like it) and due cappuccini.

Started the day with the second half of our Palantino ticket with a visit to the always-impressive Colosseo. New sections were open on this visit, providing some up-close vantage points to peer into the ancient flooring and imagine what it was like in the bowels of such a structure.

Began a long afternoon walk in the direction of Castel Sant’ Angelo. Ducked into two cool churches along the way…cool in decor, but more importantly, cool in temperature. Maria en Campitelli was a dark, quiet church with few visitors, while Agnese di Agone was bright and opulent and teeming with admirers. Outside, on the Piazza Navone, Jeff spotted a landmark from a book he is reading: Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons. (Thanks to Matt for the recommendation…Jeff is pointing out “clues” all over Rome.)

Our primary destination for the afternoon–the Castel Sant’ Angelo–is another book landmark. The Medeival Castel was construted on top of an ancient Roman mausoleum constructed by Emperor Hadrian. Later, the Castel housed Papal apartments, and a secret passage to the Vatican (‘Il Paseo’) for the Pope to escape invading armies. For modern visitors, the result is a 3-D inter-mixing of eras. From the parapets, got a colorful glimpse of the myriad of street vendors below: sandals, handbags, glasses, scarves, grass reeds twisted into origami grasshoppers…tripods?

A short walk to the Vatican, where visitors lined up for evening service in Piazza San Pietro. Watched the curious scene for an hour…expecting something to happen…I’m sure it did eventually…probably even included the Pope. Nevertheless, hunger overcame us and we walked along the Tiber back to the Travestere for dinner. A very popular spot…Carlos Menta…with good food at very reasonable prices. They are the one place that seemed to have embraced the American economic model that with high volume, you can have low prices.

Returned to the hotel for drinks (mojitos) and dessert (a creative, rich tiramisu) at the hotel rooftop bar, Circus.

Nestled into a very cozy bed.

This week’s hotel window looked out into the glass-clad business parks of La Jolla. Next up…Seattle.

Over the long Thanksgiving weekend, Jeff and I decorated our Christmas Tree, complete with several new ornaments from the year…new treasures adding to the explosion of color on our tree. A ceramic from Orvieto. A paper mache mask from Venice. Alabaster from Voltera. Terra cotta from Impruneta. A colorful surfboard from Hawaii. A White House ornament.

But the prize for most interesting ornament of the year…a colorful red elephant…made from elephant poop. THAT is a first. Thanks Karen 🙂